Press Review October 19, 2013

Official and pro-government newspapers continue to publish congratulatory telegrams to President Ilham Aliyev; a report on a reception in Moscow in honor of the 22 anniversary of the state independence of Azerbaijan; on an international conference  on  80th anniversary of the president's uncle, biologist Jalal Aliyev.  The head of the Foreign Relations  Department of  the Presidential Administration Novruz Mammadov gave a rebuff  to Western countries that  " the decision  takes  not the Politburo, but the president of the country."

"Azadliq" newspaper writes about the ban on the retail sale of the opposition press in subway stations and on hysteria of political power over the State Department's criticism of local and international organizations in the presidential election. The newspaper writes about the meetings of a single presidential candidate from the National Council of Democratic Forces, Jamil Hasanli, with officials of the European Parliament and the OSCE ODIHR , where the emphasis was  made on inadmissibility of "caviar diplomacy" on the eve of the presidential elections, which plays a pivotal role in the life of the nation; an interview with the head of the local Institute of Peace and Democracy, Leyla Yunus, of impending international political sanctions against the political leadership of Azerbaijan.

"Zerkalo" wrote about meeting the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC)  of Azerbaijan Mazahir Panahov with the head of OSCE ODIHR Tana de Zulueta , where the parties did  not come to a common denominator. Panahov demonstrated the government's official view on the elections , Zulueta also stressed the need to adhere to the commitments on human rights in the country's accession to international organizations.

  The newspaper also  writes about  reformatting the foreign policy of Azerbaijan, whose leadership is dissatisfied with "Western interference" in the internal affairs of the country. In addition, after the consent of Armenia's accession to the Customs Union  military action  are possible in Nagorno -Karabakh, although NATO and the OSCE  support the peaceful solution of the problem. The newspaper  has paid attention to the issue of legal protection of Azerbaijani Orkhan Zeynalov, who is charged with murder in Moscow a Russian citizen.  Azerbaijan will hire a lawyer for him at public expense.

According to the newspaper "Express", Azerbaijan's defense spending  is growing - in 2014 only official costs of buying weapons and modernize technology will be brought to 2.97 billion manat ( approximately $ 3.8 billion.) This is  by 57 million manat more than the operating costs of the year.

The newspaper writes about the double standards of the OSCE Minsk Group - the team  of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman said that the ceasefire on the line of contact between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia was  once again violated, but , as usual, the  initiators of  shooting have not been identified.

Son of  the PPFA  chairman Ali Kerimli, was released from jail after 25 days of arrest. He was with disorderly conduct.

"Echo" is hoping that today, the Constitutional Court of the Azerbaijan Republic will  confirm the results of the presidential election, made public by the Central Election Commission. According to the results of voting, which was accompanied by widespread human rights violations , current president got about 85 % of the vote , which is directly stated in the report of the U.S. State Department and the ODIHR.

The newspaper wrote about the problem of mortgage ( over two years the budget allocated 40 million manat that allows to buy apartments for 1,000 people), and the problem of the lack of a  general  plan of the city of Baku.

" Bizim Yol " writes about the beginning of the investigation in respect of its employee  Parviz Hashimli accused under Articles 206.3.2 (smuggling of weapons and ammunition by prior agreement) and 228.2.1 (illegal possession of firearms and ammunition by prior agreement) of the Criminal Code. The charges allow to refer him to the category of political prisoners, said Elchin Sadigov, the lawyer of the arrested.

The newspaper "New Times" wrote about the deepening confrontation between the official Baku and the U.S. State Department after criticizing the presidential election, as well as the checking of apartments in Moscow for the presence of illegal migrants from Azerbaijan.

Today the agency has not received "Yeni Musavat" newspaper. However, according to Turan agency, the newspaper was send for selling, but there were  problems with selling in the metro.